Creative Places for Collaborative Cities: Proposal for the ‘Progetto Habitat e Cultura’ in Milan

Abstract

This paper presents a proposal for a pilot project in an old milk factory in Milan, which is part of an ongoing PhD research that aims to develop a solution to enhance the growth and development of creative places for a new urban everyday life. Places where groups of people collaboratively promote and manage a mix of creative initiatives in the fields of art and culture, economy and production, social services and urban regeneration. This places help to shape a different city. A Collaborative City, that is, a city with kernels of creativity, where people interact and enact creating a symbiosis of activities that promote sustainable lifestyles, an active citizenship, social inclusion, cultural diversity and new economic models. It is a city where hierarchies are transversal instead of vertical, i.e, where local authorities (urban leaders) create opportunities for mass participation, bottom-up creativity and collaborative services.